Venture capital, 2024 starts with a rebound in investments driven by Bending Spooons and Mmi

MILAN – After a difficult 2023 due to the rise in rates and the various outbreaks of uncertainty on the global economic scenario, 2024 for investments in startups by Venture capital opens with a positive sign that gives hope for a rebound.

In fact, in the first quarter of the year, 443 million were invested in Italy, compared to the 389 recorded from October to November 2023 (+13.9%).

As always happens for our market, which is still very small compared to competitors, the “mega-rounds” make the difference: a few large-scale operations alone manage to shift the center of gravity of the aggregate numbers. And in fact in the first quarter 55% of the invested was attributable to the two mega rounds of Bending Spoons (144 million) e Mmi (101 million).

The data emerge from the Observatory on Venture Capital in Italy – created by the investment bank Growth Capital, in collaboration with the Italian Tech Alliance, the Italian association of venture capital, investors in innovation and innovative startups and SMEs. The report was presented on Monday in Turin at an event in partnership with the Investors’ Club.

Based on the data, the European scenario is very different from the Italian one: 12 billion euros were raised in 2,404 rounds on the continent, a share close to the historic lows reached in the fourth quarter of 2023. The amount invested, however, was the highest low since the second quarter of 2020. In Italy, however, the results of the VC are, as mentioned, positive. The investment rounds went from 88 to 108, marking a new Italian record for the sector. The number of exits also increased to 12 in the first quarter of 2024, from 8 in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Fabio Mondini de Focatiis of Growth Capital spoke of “encouraging data” and the “best quarter ever and the fifth quarter of consecutive growth. These results confirm our prediction of the potential of the Italian ecosystem which is preparing to confidently face the challenges of 2024″. Francesco Cerrutigeneral director of the Italian Tech Alliance, “the second quarter of 2024 has the potential to be one of the most important in the history of innovation in our country”. Meanwhile, “the market has recovered after the difficult 2023 and that the numbers of the first three months of the year tell of a relaunch that will only be strengthened in the near future, also thanks to the regulatory interventions that we have been proposing for some time.”